I find it easier to pan action shots with a monopod rather than a tripod.

If a monopod is not an option I suggest using a tennis ball with a hole cut out. If you cut the hole just right, you will be able to fit bottom of all three legs of the tripod tightly into the tennis ball, and voila you have an instant monopod! Use disposable plastic ties to tie down the legs together at 2-3 places along its lenght, that will make the legs more rigid and act more like a monopod. You can always cut these off when you require a full tripod, and if you carry spare ties in your camera bag, you can convert the tripod back to a “monopod” if required.

When using a tripod I find that a ball head works better for me than a pan/tilt head for panning shots. Being that you have a $300 tripod it probably has interchangeable heads. If you don’t already have both types go to a camera shop and try the other one out. You can then decide which head works best for you. The really good (expensive) heads will allow you to level your camera properly with built-in spirit levels. However with digital photography and post-processing this is not as important a consideration though IMO as compared to film imaging. You can always correct the horizon in pp. There will be some cropping after the horizon is corrected, but this should be minimal as long as you are reasonable careful when composing the photograph.